In high-frequency surgery (HF surgery) an electrode supplied with high-frequency electric current is used for cutting tissue. A high-frequency electrode made of a wire sling is used, for instance, for ablating tissue. The sling is pushed or pulled through the tissue by the operator in order to cut out tissue snippets or shavings of just about any length.
A medical resector developed by Jacques Hamou comprises a rotating wire sling as high-frequency electrode. The wire sling ablates the tissue in the form of small shavings or snippets, for instance similarly to the functioning of a milling head for machined processing of workpieces. Medical resectors of this type are described for instance in WO 2006/048199 A1 and DE 10 2006 039 696 A1. Resection or ablation or the detaching of tissue in small fragments makes possible an immediate visual control, simplified handling, and clean and precise ablation of tissue. In addition, the small portions of tissue are easily removable, for instance by suction integrated in the medical resector.
The rotatable high-frequency electrodes of conventional medical resectors are powered by standard engines used for a wide range of applications in surgery and other medical fields. These standard engines as a rule are equipped with an INTRA coupling according to ISO 3964 and deliver rotation frequencies of several tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. Therefore, a reduction gear is used between the standard engine and the medical resector.
A medical resector as set forth in the following description can be combined with an endoscope to form a resectoscope, in such a way that a shaft of the endoscope is positioned inside a channel in the shaft of the medical resector.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved drive device for a rotatable high-frequency electrode of a medical resector and an improved medical resector.